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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Booksteve Reviews--Who's Afraid of the Song of the South? by Jim Korkis

In the mid-nineties, I got hold of a copy of a Japanese
release of Walt Disney's SONG OF THE SOUTH on VHS (with Japanese subs!). I had
never seen it before and loved the animated parts very much! By that point,
however, the film was locked away in Disney's vault, never to see the light of
day again in the US (apparently). For the next week, I asked every black person
I knew or who just happened to come in my store if they were familiar with the
film and if it offended them. Honestly, most of them started singing songs from
it and several insisted I had to make them copies (which I did). Not a one was
offended and many were quite upset when I informed them Disney said they should
be!

Now comes WHO'S AFRAID OF THE SONG OF THE SOUTH? by premier
Disney historian Jim Korkis. This recent volume, one of a couple on the
subject, details every aspect of the film from its original inspirations
through its early protests (Which I had not been aware of previously), the
exploitation of the characters in comics, several successful film re-releases
and the eventual burial of the picture itself. All of this follows an
enlightened and enlightening foreword by Disney's legendary first black
animator, Floyd Norman.

It's a convoluted tale at best and one of the odder ones in
Disney history for any number of reasons but Korkis is the one to streamline
it. Arguably the best Disney historian of them all, having been so both
officially and unofficially for decades now, he knows where the bodies are
buried...or in this case frozen...or contrary to persistent rumor, not.

Jim categorizes all of the different aspects of SONG OF THE
SOUTH into separate chapters, giving the reader easy to digest doses of how the
individual aspects all fit into the larger image. The one missing puzzle piece
seems consistently to be how current Disney management continues to turn a deaf
ear to calls for releasing it on Blu-Ray and DVD in the US under ANY
circumstances...in spite of legal releases in quite a few other countries.

If you notice the cover, though, this book has a
subtitle--"...And Other Forbidden Disney Stories."

The SONG OF THE SOUTH issue fills the first half of the
volume while the second half sheds bright light on another dozen or so mostly
fun and fascinating Disney rumors, legends and factoids.

Among the items covered here are the story behind Wally
Wood's dirty Disney poster (of which I many years ago purchased Jim's own
framed black light mini-version).

All in all, if you're a Disney fan of any depth whatsoever,
WHO'S AFRAID OF THE SONG OF THE SOUTH? needs to be in your library as soon as
possible. Of course, that could and has been said of every other Jim Korkis
book. Remember that name and buy any book he puts out that has anything to do
with animation or Disney. Booksteve says!

Thanks to Jim and his publicist for a review copy. You can get your own copy at the link below:

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About Me

First published in 1968 (I was 9!), I have been writing professionally part-time for more than two decades. I have been freelancing for various authors, editors and publishers for the past three years on the behind-the-scenes tasks of writing.